Sweet Potato Smoothie

My sweet potato smoothie is deliciously creamy! This is my go-to smoothie for winter because it's flavoured with warm spices, and made without ice.

This sweet potato smoothie recipe was born out of necessity.

I've been trying to stick to my resolution to add more fruits and veggies to my diet, and one of my favourite ways of doing that is by having a smoothie in the morning. Especially if I'm planning on working out before I start my workday.

My smoothies are pretty basic. I either make my blueberry smoothie with oats, or throw one together with whatever fruit I have on hand.

The problem is that I usually make my smoothie with ice, and I don't want to drink something that cold in the middle of winter. Especially when it's -14°C outside.

My solution was to come up with a smoothie that tastes great at room temperature, or even slightly warm.

It turns out that sweet potatoes actually work really well in a warm-ish smoothie! And not just any sweet potatoes - steamed sweet potatoes!

I had first learned about steaming sweet potatoes in an article from Bon Appetit magazine. The writer talked about how steaming the potatoes gave them a creamy dessert-like texture. Perfect!

Steaming the sweet potatoes is preferable for this smoothie recipe because they blend up really smoothly. You could use baked or roasted sweet potatoes if you want to though, but they will be a bit more fibrous in texture.

I tested this recipe about six or seven times before writing this blog post. I played around with the spices, changed the quantity of milk, added ingredients, took ingredients out... you get the idea.

And you know what I found?

That there really isn't a bad way to make a sweet potato smoothie. What you put into this recipe is really up to you and your dietary needs.

The foundation recipe is basically sweet potato flesh blended with some kind of milk, seasoned with warm spices and sweetened (if desired).

This recipe makes about 3 servings, so you're looking at about a half cup of cooked sweet potato per serving. While the sweet potato is tasty on its own and does have great nutritional benefits, I find that I need to bulk-out my smoothie a bit more to make it really filling.

I usually make mine with lactose-free high-protein low-sugar milk (the best choice for me), steamed sweet potato flesh, pumpkin spice (because I have it), extra cinnamon (because it's tasty), plain silken tofu (for protein), and a tiny bit of honey to round it all out.

Silken tofu works really well in smoothie. Not only does it add protein, but it makes the smoothie extra creamy too. Which is nice if you're using low-fat milk, or just enjoy a really creamy smoothie.

If you want more fibre, adding soaked quick-cook oats works really well. If I add oats to my smoothie, it keeps me from feeling hungry for quite a while.

If you don't like a thick smoothie, you might want to thin this one out with more milk than I used.

Another nice add-in is grated fresh ginger. It adds a bit of kick that you just can't get from the powered stuff. I like adding it in if I feel like I have a cold coming on.

I like to keep any leftover sweet potato smoothie in the fridge for the next day. Just be sure to cover it with plastic wrap or place it in an air-tight container.

I hope you'll give this recipe a try. If you do, please leave me a comment below!
Happy Cooking!

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